Zimbabwe tour is important for Pujara's ODI dreams

On the face of it, India’s tour of Zimbabwe is boring. India, even without skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni are a strong team. Zimbabwe, meanwhile, still haven’t recovered from exodus that robbed them of their best players. But still this is an important tour for many reasons and two most important among them are Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara.

In the latest edition of SportsTalk, veteran sports writer Ayaz Memon took a quick look at the challenges for India on the short five-ODI tour.

“It’s an international series and you can’t take it lightly. And it’s a limited overs tournament and surprises do happen. I don’t think they can beat India because India are really riding high now but you never know in the shorter formats,” said Ayaz. “This tour is important for many reasons but prime among them are Virat Kohli as captain and Cheteshwar Pujara’s ODI debut.”

“For Virat Kohli it is a very important tour – he is captain and he doesn’t have the big presence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni around him now which is a big challenge. And the other thing is that he has to continue to perform well – to score runs, he cannot stop doing that,” Ayaz further added.

But for Pujara, it is a chance to prove his ODI credentials. The 2015 World Cup is still a while off but if Pujara can’t score runs here, he will find it hard to make the ODI team.

“This is Pujara’s entry into limited overs cricket for India and it’s very important for him. He has proved that he is a very fine batsman in Tests. But remember he was part of the ODI team for the England series but he could find a place in the playing XI,” said Ayaz. “But now the selectors have chosen him with an eye on the 2015 World Cup. It’s a chance for him to prove himself and if he doesn’t have a good series then his ODI career could take a knock.”

Watch the entire discussion between Ayaz Memon and Ashish Magotra in the video above.